Simmons Foods has announced plans for a $100 million expansion of its chicken processing facility in Van Buren, Ark.
The project will add 65,000 sq. ft., which will be used for two new production and packaging lines. Simmons expects to break ground on the project in January and have the lines running by the first quarter of 2023.
“This investment will create 100 new jobs, including highly skilled positions to support robotics and automation processes,” Joel Sappenfield, president of Simmons Prepared Foods, said in a statement. “The expansion will also support growth in the local economy and assist in meeting market demand for one of the fastest growing segments of the business - cooked products.”
The plant currently comprises three production lines and produces about 110 million pounds of cooked chicken products annually. The expansion will add about 100 million pounds to that capacity.
